XGI Volari 8300 Review

The Volari 8300 is XGI’s PCI-Express solution for the value market and boasts a number of attractive features going well beyond competing solutions.

XGI has strived to set the Volari 8300 apart from any card in its price range, and many cards considerably more expensive, by including various video enhancing features that are usually only available in high-end competing products. As a result, the Volari 8300 includes embedded hardware features which are not present in competing products, such as high quality scaling, 3:2 pull-down correction and inverse telecine.

Volari 8300 runs at 300 MHz with its memory running at 600 MHz using a 64-bit interface, just like the Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory and many versions of the GeForce 6200 TurboCache.

Below are some pictures taken from our board sample. This engineering sample uses a “normal-sized” PCB and comes with a small cooling system whereas the final version is expected to be entirely fanless and in low profile format (half the size).
Continue reading

Preview of Earth 2160

How many of you have looked at the stunning graphics of some of the latest first-person shooters and wondered “hey, if games can look that good, why don’t they use this technology in other types of games too?”

Well, it looks like Zuxxez / Reality Pump had the same idea in mind when developing their latest real-time strategy game, EARTH 2160. To set the record straight, Earth 2160 is the official sequel of the fairly popular Earth 2140 and Earth 2150 series.

With its massive tech tree, rich story line, customizable armies and awesome 3D eye candy, Earth 2160 looks set to be one of the year’s best RTS titles. Could it be that the new King of Real Time Strategy is finally arriving?
Continue reading

Preview of XGI’s Volari 8300 (XG47)

XGI Technology, a graphics processors designer based in Taipei, Taiwan, showcased at CeBIT 2005 its upcoming cards such as the Volari 8300, known under its code-name XG47, designed for value and mobile applications.

Since XGI launched its own branded graphics processors in last year September, XGI has established a well structured distribution plans in just six months. Major well-known partners in various regions included ASK Corporation in Japan, EagleTEC Trading in Europe, D&H Distribution and ASI Corporation in US. Furthermore, XGI’s graphics chips have already been adopted by manufacturers such as Dell, ECS, Chaintech, Club 3D and Link King Electronics Ltd.

Continue reading

CeBIT 2005 coverage article

CeBIT ranks as the world’s number one event for the IT sector. It is the only trade fair where representatives of business, science, politics and media can see all the latest trends in a single location. XGI is conducting meetings with worldwide buyers at CeBIT and is currently exhibiting the latest Volari™ family graphics solutions to global end-users. Being VolariGamers, we went under cover and managed to snag some info on
Continue reading

Interview with Danny Lee from XGI

First of all, could you please introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Danny Lee & I am the new Corporate Marketing Manager with XGI. I am handling media relations, corporate branding, & all corporate marketing related activities.

Could you please give us a brief overview of XGI’s current products and how are they positioned against competing products?

Continue reading

Volari V8 Preview & China Product Launch sneak-peak

This Thursday, to be precise September 16 at 14:00, XGI will be organising a big event at the Beijing State Guest Hotels in China : XGI will be officially launching the Volari product line in China.

We had the opportunity to learn about some of the products that will be unveiled to the Chinese market and wanted to let you have a sneak peak at what will be showcased. It also is the occasion for us to look more in detail at the Volari cards, especially the Volari V8 model.

XGI Technology’s product line consists of three discrete GPUs : the Volari V8, the Volari V5 (both of which are also available in a higher-clocked ‘ultra’ version) and the Volari V3 entry-level desktop GPU (which is available in two flavours : V3 and V3XT).

Continue reading

XGI Volari V3 XT Preview

Many of us get excited when hearing about cutting edge graphics cards, but let’s face it: performance and whiz bang features are pretty nice, but the majority of consumers simply will not swallow the high price tag that comes with it. The sales volume are actuallly in the low end region of the market, and that is why cards like the Radeon 9200 SE or GeforceMX still sell very well though they lack many important features.
Today we take a look at what XGI has to offer for the value market. The Volari V3 XT sports some pretty nifty features such as full DirectX 9 and native HDTV support (!!), making it rather unique as to my knowledge no other value card fully supports HDTV.

The Volari V3 XT card comes equipped with 128MB of DDR memory. The V3XT GPU is clocked at 250Mhz. Let’s take a look first at the specifications of the card then get right into it..
Continue reading

Alpha Black Zero Hands-On

Alpha Black Zero is a fast-paced mission based 3rd person tactical shooter with a gripping storyline to test both your fighting abilities and your intelligence. Dozens of different enemies, all possessing strong Artificial intelligence, will punish your mistakes across huge and challenging levels.

We were lucky enough to be allowed to play a test version of the game and were very impressed with what we saw…

Continue reading

Saga of Ryzom Preview

I’m sure many of you know of ‘MMORPG’ (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) such as Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, etc.
These are game universes that can be explored and experienced by tens of thousands of players simultaneously. Play with your friends and family, and explore and experience a mysterious world together for the first time.

Continue reading